Lumpy’s – Albuquerque, NM

Last week a friend of mine walks up to me and asks if I’ve ever had an ‘In and Out’ Burger. Having worked in the film industry for 2 years, I am very familiar with the place, even though I have never been there. So of course my response, no. “Well, do you like Burgers?” Considering I eat at least probably 3 burgers a week, that was an easy answer. “Well there is this place, up on Central near Coors…”

The place is Lumpy’s, the style is a fast food type burger. Before you stop reading at Fast Food, trust me, keep reading.

When first I drove up, I wasn’t sure what to think. It’s a little shack on the edge of a parking lot. Almost looks like an old style drive in, but the line was huge, so they must be doing something right. Off to the side is another bunch of people writing on little brown Bags, a quick look at the menu explains the unusual ordering process.

The bags have the menu in the form of checkboxes. Next to the bags, a stack of crayons. First, pick your burger, 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4, you want lettuce Tomatoes and Onions? Check the boxes. Wait… no bacon?! Seriously? Ok, for the moment we’ll overlook this little oversight.

Next, what kind of cut to your potato? You’ve got Chunky, Skinny or Skrewy. I got the skrewy fries, which are more like the spiral cut potato chips like you get at the fair. Mini Corn dogs, chicken strips, and your choice of soda or tea rounds out the menu. Wait, what’? That’s it? Seriously, it’s only burgers and a couple choices for the “young at heart” crowd.

Ok, so bag filled out, standing in line and you could tell who has been there before because there was a stand of baskets. In these baskets are the potatoes that you pick from. Yeah, that’s right, you pick your own potato. Make sure to grab a nice big potato because you’ll probably be standing in line a while anyway. Oh yeah, and they have sweet potatoes too. It took close to an hour from the point we got in line, to when we got our food.

It was worth it. The sweet potato fries, skrewy, amazing. They break up more than the idaho potatoes, but so sweet and crispy. The regular potatoes were less cooked, but strangely good. Some parts nice and crispy, other parts soft, just a little salty, I’ll have to go back and try the other cuts.

Ok, so the burger. I got cheese, lettuce, green chile, ketchup and ranch. They also have this Cali sauce, which is similar to Thousand island, but smoother and creamier, slightly tangy, slightly sweet.

The 1/2 lbs consists of 2 1/4lbs patties. The never frozen meat is cooked on a super hot griddle giving a nice brown crust on the meat. The buttered and toasted kaiser is soft on the outside, crispy on the inside. The cheese is ridiculous, it’s what I call a CHEESEburger. It’s a fast food burger, it’s greasy, gooey, very large and thin and in every way damn good! The closest thing I could relate it to is Blakes, but better (which is saying something because I like Blakes, but that’s another show). The only thing missing, is bacon, that burger would have blown my mind, if it had bacon.

It’s fresh, it’s local, and it’s certainly worth the drive, not only for the experience, but for the food as well. It’s not gourmet, but it’s not supposed to be, just a damn good simple burger with an unusual experience. Go forth and comment.�

I’m glad you liked it J.J. I see too many places like this shutting down in these tougher times. I really hope people support local places and keep quality places like this busy. Oh, and being local doesn’t necessarily equal a good and supportive review folks, I see it like it is, local or not, if I dont like it, you’ll know.

I will definitely be by again, so I’m sure you’ll see me there again and again. Lumpy’s was the final straw, the reason I finally decided to start the blog. It had been a thought in my mind for a while, but then I decided to try out this new place that my friend menioned and after taking that first bite, that this would be my first review. I look forward to stopping by again and I will make sure to say hello.